Kalamazoo author overcomes dyslexia, to release third book 'Walker's Web' with themes of helping community

Courtesy photoKalamazoo author Alice Beard, who writes as Alice Renee, will release her third book on Wednesday at the Kalamazoo Public Library.

KALAMAZOO -- In the small upper-floor room of Kalamazoo author Alice Beard’s Northside neighborhood house, copies of her poems, manuscript drafts and other creative works sit stacked on shelves.

Beard, who goes by the pen name Alice Renee, has been collecting these works for decades, but despite appearances, the writing didn’t come easily to her at first. While growing up, Beard struggled with her schoolwork because of a learning disability and dyslexia, she said.

On Wednesday, Beard will celebrate the release of her third published book, “Walker’s Web: Recollections of a Fugitive,” with a premiere beginning 7 p.m. at the Kalamazoo Public Library.

Beard, a self-described “child of the civil rights movement,” was born in Albion, but spent her childhood and teenage years living in Battle Creek, Kalamazoo, Mississippi, Georgia and then Nevada, before coming back to Kalamazoo.

If you go

Price: Free to attend; “Walker’s Web” may be purchased at the event for $14.99 plus tax.

“Something kept drawing me here to Kalamazoo because I love it so much,” Beard said.

Her mother told her that Kalamazoo would be the place to raise a family, but things have changed since then, Beard said.

“I write because I’m hurt,” Beard said. “I’m hurt over the fact that so many of my children going in and out of the juvenile system and so many people are dying from AIDS and so many people aren’t getting what they need not to go in that direction.”

It was these views that helped Beard form the ideas for her second novel, “Blood,” which she self-published in 2005. The book follows a former slave, named Garth Walker, during the 1800s.

“He doesn’t seem to comprehend compassion, and I made him into a character where when you first read about him, you’re going to be enthused with him and he’s going to be everything that a young kid would want,” Beard said. “But after you get to reading about him, you’re going to look at some of the things you do and wish to hell you’d never done.”

Walker’s poor upbringing in slavery - and in result, his poor decision-making - relate to issues that Beard sees today, she said.

“When you take a child and raise them one way and then you release them, that’s another thing,” Beard said. “But sometimes, there’s outside influences that have more power than you have, and Garth’s outside influences outweighed anything he did.”

It was during a Kalamazoo Valley Community College creative writing course that Beard starting brainstorming her next novel, “Walker’s Web: Recollections of a Fugitive.” The book follows the spirit of Garth Walker as he follows the actions of his descendants in modern times.

“Walker’s Web” mirrors the lives of today’s poorly-raised children who are released into the world, Beard said.

“I don’t want to offend anybody. That ain’t what I write for,” Beard said. “But when I see so many people fall by the wayside and nobody really helping them, my experiences say that you don’t give me what I need to survive. You’re so busy following your guidelines and rules that I get lost.”

The KPL book premiere event will include a presentation and book signing, as well as a dramatic readings of selections from “Walker’s Web” that Beard said she is dedicating to her sister Brenda Steward.

After the book premiere, Beard said that she hopes to continue working on the “Walker’s Web” series, and that she’s planned multiple sequels.

However, writing isn’t the only way Beard hopes to speak to the community.

In the coming months, Beard also hopes to start running her recently-founded nonprofit organization, Flying on the Wings of Change, which will provide a series of after-school activities for local K-12 students.